Posted on 12/09/2021 12:47:12 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas has changed a policy that denied sex reassignment surgery to people who did not legally change their names, the company confirmed Thursday.
The change came after the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund raised the issue on behalf of Charley Osman, a transgender man, who was rejected after he sought pre-authorization in June for two surgeries.
“I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to go through this, but I want to be sure I’m the last,” Osman said in a news release issued by ACLU Kansas. “This is an incredibly expensive surgery, and for a long time I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to have it. I’m very glad Blue Cross Blue Shield changed their policies so that no one else has to go through what I did.”
Several medical providers agreed Osman’s surgery was medically necessary, ACLU of Kansas said. The organizations sent a letter to Blue Cross Blue Shield on Osman’s behalf in August saying the name change requirement was outdated, inconsistent with medical standards, discriminatory and illegal.
With the policy change, Osman will undergo the surgeries by the end of the year, according to the statement.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas said it makes decisions based on feedback and insights from its members.
“Policies are important to ensure we keep costs down and insurance affordable,” the company said in a statement. “However, we are constantly reviewing and updating these policies to meet the evolving needs of our members, and this is a good example of that process working.”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Let’s hear it for lopitofames and addadicktomies.
It’s where the cool cats go... according to many of those who
would never have one themselves.
“It’s only a matter of time before all medical insurance providers and all hospitals and all doctors, are forced to allow gender reassignment procedures,”
Will insurance also have to pay to reverse the surgery for those patients who determine later in life they made a mistake? If so, how may times before it is considered “elective” surgery?
Meanwhile prostate MRIs are considered an “experimental” diagnostic tool. Prostate MRI’s, which are non-invasive, have a 95% success rate in identifying prostate cancer versus the 60% chance of success with the multiple hunt and stab needle biopsy process currently considered accepted practice by the medical profession and insurance providers. The prostate MRI has the added advantage of also imaging the bladder and lymph nodes surrounding the prostate which the approved needle biopsy procedure does not pick up.
More men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes than women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet insurance policies pay for periodic imaging of women for breast cancer as a preventative measure but won’t pay for imaging for men which could save tens of thousands of lives each year.
Yes, prostate MRI’s are expensive today because they are only performed at a few medical centers around the country. If they were approved for routine diagnostic, the number of locations performing it would increase geometrically and prices would come down to the level of a mammogram or less. Essentially men, who represent 49% of the population, are being denied a proven life saving diagnostic procedure for the most common cancer in men, because of cost.
Now insurance companies are going to pay for elective sex change surgery for less than 1% of the population at a cost many times that of a prostate MRI at today’s inflated costs. Do we as a nation have our medical priorities wrong?
‘....Osman said in a news release issued by ACLU Kansas. “This is an incredibly expensive surgery, and for a long time I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to have it.,..’
Kansas Blue Cross customers - do you like the cost of your premiums and deductibles? Well now you can help pay for others elective surgery to chop parts off or stitch them on. Don’t worry you’ll still get to pay painful sums for your routine care, knowing all the while you’re also financially supporting someone else mental problems.
Except for commercials for home security systems. Perps there are always as white asa lily.
So a Covidiot politician in IL wants to void insurance for unvaccinated, yet insurance companies are perfectly fine with paying for transgender surgery...
Medicare pays for it, so
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.